Time for yet another (groan) pandemic walk? Here's how to switch things up.
From left, Lisa Hibbs and her step-children Penelope Stone, 9, and Sebastian Stone, 7, walk together a long the train tracks in Frontier Park in St. Charles on Wednesday, May 6, 2020. Photo by Rachel Ellis, rellis@post-dispatch.com
Robin Burnside of Affton takes a walk at Laumeier Sculpture Parkon April 3.
Jane Smith, of Olivette, takes advantage of a large, empty Creve Coeur parking lot on April 6 and walks with her daughter Hannah Smith.
A resident walks the perimeter of the Suson Park lake on April 28.
Fatima Isa, 22, and Nasumba Albert, 8, walk past James Fote as he fishes in the small pond in Fox Hill Park in St. Charles on Wednesday, May 6, 2020. Fox Hill park is one one location doing storybook walks, where people can read a book throughout their walk. Photo by Rachel Ellis, rellis@post-dispatch.com
Joce Figueroa of Clayton walks on the brick pavement of downtown St. Charles on Wednesday, May 6, 2020. Photo by Rachel Ellis, rellis@post-dispatch.com
Signs along the trail at Veterans Tribute Park in St. Charles hold pages of a storybook families can read as they walk.
Walking feels a bit different during a pandemic, and its likely youve been doing more of it, whether or not youre forcing yourself or your family to get moving.
Youre walking to exercise, socialize, escape, pass the time, indulge the dog (who has absolutely zero problem with any of this, the last we checked), or all of the above.
A lot of folks are discovering a different way of interacting with the community when they are walking, said Emma Klues, vice president of communications and outreach for Great Rivers Greenway, which has seen a significant surge of people on its 125 greenways throughout the area. When theyre walking, theyre seeing houses differently, or they can stop and check something out. You cant do that with a car as much.
Walking improves cardiovascular health, helps you maintain and lose weight, and allows you to get valuable Vitamin D.
During a pandemic, walks simply help.
These walking experiences can really reduce your stress, and thats really whats important right now, said Joyce Millner, a certified personal trainer and fitness consultant who is co-executive director of the Fit and Food Connection, which provides fitness and food resources to communities in need.
Dont just go through the motions. Look around, take in a new tree, a new flower, a smiling face. There are so many benefits to absorbing goodness. It can just be a wonderful experience.
So lace up some supportive shoes, fellow bipeds. Well guide you through a few steps to getting the most out your walk.
Be a polite walker:Viruses cant walk, but they can spread through the air. So its important to maintain a social distance of six feet from other walkers. If you come to an intersection or a crosspoint, be clear in your verbal or body language about where you are going to go next, Klues said.
Stay to the far right of a path except when you are safely passing, advises Forest Park Forever, which put together a guide for visitors, with tips that apply to other outdoor spaces (forestparkforever.org/coronavirus). However, when walking on a road, walk on the left side, so oncoming traffic can see you.
The Victorian Footbridge was built in 1885 to provide a pedestrian route into Forest Park from the nearby streetcar stop. Today, the Victorian Bridge has been restored and is nestled within the park's northeast corner. Jim Backus of Richmond Heights rides his bike across it here. Photo by Hillary Levin, hlevin@post-dispatch.com
If youre crossing a bridge, make sure there is nobody else oncoming before crossing. If you are passing someone, let them know by calling on your left so the other person can give you space, and get out of the way if possible.
Also, dont use trails or go out if you are sick or showing symptoms, and if you do go out, dont touch things like park benches, handrails and bike racks. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends wearing a face mask in areas where social distancing is difficult to maintain, so if youre going to a crowded path, keep one with you.
Bring a bottle of water as many public park water fountains may not be available.
Also, listen to your mother and use the bathroom before you leave the house. Many parks have closed public restrooms during the pandemic.
Keep a walk interesting:Any scout leader keeps a few tricks in his or her rucksack to keep scouts interested during walks and hikes.
Dave Chambliss with the St. Louis Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America suggests using walks for teaching opportunities: how to identify trees and trail markers, how to build an emergency shelter, as well as learning about first aid or navigational skills.
Hes had someone in his group pretend to fall and sprain an ankle. The first person in line behind that person has to tend to the fallen. After a few hikes like this, scouts figure out they have to be prepared for any emergency. They didnt know when it would happen next, he said. Youd hear one say, I wonder if we are going to do bee stings?
Go on an ABC walk where you and your companions identify things beginning with each letter of the alphabet. For more challenging letters, like X, look for two sticks or tree branches that make the shape. For a monogram walk, each person has to find something that begins with their initials.
Rainbow walk: Go through the colors of the rainbow and identify as many things as you can with that color.
Ray and Audrey Behrendes walk together on the trail at Fox Hill Park in St. Charles on Wednesday. The trail in Fox Hill is one of the St. Charles Library Foundation's Storybook Walks. Pages are posted at several stations along the trail, allowing families and friends to enjoy a story as they walk.
Story walk:Each person on the walk starts a story, then the next person adds a sentence, then the next person. Pick a park that offers a Storybook Walk, where pages of a childrens book are posted alongside a trail. The St. Charles Library Foundation lists some here: stchlibraryfoundation.org/StorybookWalk
Night walk: Go on a walk at night, and leave the flashlights at home. See if the light of the moon or the light of the streetlights is enough to get you by, and listen to the sounds of the night.
Penny walk: When you reach a corner, flip a coin. Heads go right, tails go left. Once you get to a spot, give your kids a penny and see how many things they can find that will fit onto it.
Bring drawing and coloring materials and when you get to your destination, sketch what you see.
Creek walk: Find a creek and walk up it or alongside it.
Theme and treat days: change up your walk with different drinks, genres of music, treats and meals. You can enjoy disco music on one day, cucumber-infused water another day, or look forward to a coffee or ice cream at a destination, says Millner.
Walk with an app
Besides listening to a new podcast, audiobook or music, you can download an app to help put a spring in your step. Youve heard of Pokemon Go, but you can also play augmented reality games like Harry Potter: Wizards United, Ingress or Angry Birds AR: Isle of Pigs.
Pokemon Go
Use the app Walk the Distance to virtually walk the Appalachian Trail, New York City, the National Mall and more, learning about landmarks and passing others along the way.
Slay zombies and ghosts with Zombies, Run, The Walking Dead: Our World and Ghostbusters World.
Use an app like Strava or MapMyWalk to draw a virtual picture as you walk, and use the hashtag #DrawWithYourFeet or #GPSART to share your creation on social media.
To hunt for or leave treasure, download Geocaching.
Support a local cause by walking a virtual race youll probably still come away with a T-shirt and medal. The Gateway Resilience Run & Ride, through June 30, is a virtual event that will help small businesses and charities in the St. Louis region get through the coronavirus crisis. For more information, visit Gatewayresiliencerun.com.
Download an app like Charity Miles to track your movement to make money for a favorite charity. The money comes from corporate sponsors or you can get pledges and donations from friends and family.
Walk somewhere interesting
Find a main street or historic town, peek in the windows or shop and eat if you can: try St. Charles; Kimmswick; Old Town Florissant; Kirkwood; Lebanon; Columbia, Illinois; and Belleville.
Visit a cemetery or the grave of a loved one: Bellefontaine offers a GPS-enabled map and suggested walking tours. Calvary Cemetery next door and Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery are also beautiful and historical. (cemeteries.archstl.org/Locations/Calvary#485742-maps)
St. Louis Walk of Fame Next to Blueberry Hill on Delmar 5/21/00 Civil War General William T. Sherman was inducted into the Walk of Fame on Sunday afternoon. His star is located at 6687 Delmar. Photo by Aaron Burg
Take a stroll along the St. Louis Walk of Fame, which honors more than 150 prominent St. Louisans along six blocks of the Delmar Loop. The St. Louis Gateway Classic Sports Foundation Walk of Fame in downtown St. Louis, in the 2000 block of Dr. Martin Luther King Boulevard, honors prominent African Americans.
Be a good social distancing citizen and visit lesser-known parks and parts of them, or visit during weekdays or off hours to avoid crowds. Inside Forest Park, places like Successional Forest, Kennedy Forest, the circle around Jefferson Lake, Murphy Lake, West Pine Woodland, Round Lake Vista, Deer Lake Natural Area are usually quiet.
If you live in the city, try walking the alleys to discover backyard chickens, flower and vegetable gardens, carriage house architecture or basement treasures left beside trash bins.
Maureen O'Day, of St. Louis, takes photo while standing in the east bound lane of the Eads Bridge during a event celebrating the completion of a repair project to the bridge, Friday, October 7, 2016. Pedestrians were allowed to walk on the bridge while it was closed to vehicular traffic. Photo by Roberto Rodriguez
Find a bridge that has pedestrian access and enjoy the views: the Eads Bridge, Stan Musial Veterans Memorial Bridge, the old Chain of Rocks Bridge, and the Page Avenue Bridge all allow pedestrians. The Sandy Creek Covered Bridge State Historic Site in Jefferson County spans a creek that welcomes waders.
Find a spot to use your walk for contemplation or prayer. The Centenary Methodist Church in downtown St. Louis and the St. Peters UCC Church and cemetery in Washington, Missouri, have labyrinths. The National Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows in Belleville has outdoor stations of the cross.
Challenge yourself
Humorist David Sedaris grew obsessed with walking once he got a Fitbit, reaching a point where he scoffed at himself for doing a mere 15,000 steps a day. Not bad if youre on a business trip or youre just getting used to a new prosthetic leg, he wrote. Fitness experts and pedometer makers recommend 10,000 steps a day, or roughly 5 miles.
There are any number of apps and gadgets to measure distance and prod you to challenge yourself or a friend.
Fitbits, like this Fitbit Flex, track steps, distance, calories burned and active minutes, and the device monitors your sleep and wakes you with a silent vibrating alarm.
The St. Louis County parks 30 trails-30 minutes program encourages you to print a map, punch out a piece of it at the start of designated trails, and turn in the completed map for a prize. (stlouisco.com/Parks-and-Recreation/Trails/30-30-Hikes-Program)
Great Rivers Greenway advertises 10 more walks you can do in 30 minutes. (greatriversgreenway.org/30-walks-30-minutes-plus-10/)
The Missouri Civil War Passport Program points you to about 40 significant sites across the state. (mo-passport.org)
The Gateway Arch Park Foundation recently launched a challenge for fans to climb the steps of the Gateway Arch from home. There are 1,076 steps inside of each leg, and the foundation wants you to climb up and down the Arch as fast as you can to complete a total of 2,152 steps, just over one mile. Post your efforts on social media, tag @GatewayArchPark and use #GatewayArchStepChallenge.
No matter where or how long you walk, see if you can up your intensity to get the most health benefits, said Millner of the Fit and Food Connection.
I recommend quality over quantity, she said.
Even if youre just beginning, set small goals to get your heart rate up so that youre not exactly comfortable, and it might be difficult to carry on part of a conversation, she said. You can add lunges, jumping jacks, go at a faster pace, walk up and down a hill or steps.
Thats how you make it fun she said. It wont really feel terrible, but the results will be huge. I teach that small changes yield big results.
Walk with a friend, or make new ones
If you can maintain a social distance, you can still walk with a friend, chat with a neighbor, or take a moment to smile at rather than ignore the people in your path. Were just hearing from a lot of people they obviously want to maintain their physical health, but also their emotional well-being, Klues said.
Robert and Beverly Brozanski pass Elizabeth Dilg and Frank Youkhana enjoying an evening cocktail as the Brozankis take Lady Belle for her nightly walk on Thursday, April 30, 2020, along Delmar Blvd in University City. Photo by Laurie Skrivan, lskrivan@post-dispatch.com
Even if people arent talking to others directly, just to see people outside helps maintain a sense of community, she said.
Lois La Fleur is the president of the Gateway Milers, a walking club that is a chapter of the American Volksport Association. Volksport is German for sport of the people. While the clubs organized walks have been on hold since the pandemic, they maintain lists of recommended walks people can take anytime. Detailed maps for these walks cost $3 and are found in binders at designated starting points like libraries and YMCAs, though many binders arent accessible now because the locations are closed.
A man takes a walk on the gravel pavement in Frontier Park in St. Charles on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, La Fleur stays in touch with the friends shes made through the club through Zoom meetings and socially distant walks with one or two friends.
The AVA motto is fun, fitness and friendship. And were kinda like, walk, talk and lets go eat somewhere. And when I started they were all strangers to me, she said.
The club welcomes new members and tries a new walk in a different spot every Saturday. She and other members have built vacations around walks in other cities, saying its a great way to see places locals recommend.
For more information, visit ava.org.
For some of the best views in St. Louis, check out some of these places
Everyone knows the best place to get a look at St. Louis is through one of 32 windows at the top of the Gateway Arch. Luckily, the trams that carry passengers to the observation deck 630 feet in the air reopened Wednesday after having been closed since November for upgrades.
But the Archs view isnt the only one in town. There are others to appreciate, with many providing a look at our favorite metal monument.
We came up with 50 St. Louis-area locations to admire the scenic surroundings. Most are open to the public, some offer a look at downtown and others show off nothin but nature.
Do you have your own great photos of these views? Or maybe you have more suggestions for our list? Tell us about them on social media by using the hashtag #stlviews.
The supermoon rises over the Arch in St. Louis as seen from the Compton Hill Water Tower on Sunday, Nov. 13, 2016. A supermoon happens when a full moon makes its closest pass to Earth appearing up to 14 percent bigger and 30 percent brighter in the sky. Photo by David Carson, dcarson@post-dispatch.com
1700 South Grand Boulevard Several fabulous views are to be had here: Walk the stairs up to the perimeter of the reservoir, which is great for running. One side runs along Interstate 44. Or wait until the water tower is open, usually on the first Saturday of the month or during a full moon, and climb up 198 steps for spectacular views in all directions.
The Malcolm W. Martin statue overlooks a foggy St. Louis skyline, as seen from Malcolm W. Martin Memorial Park in East St. Louis on Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2017. Martin was a lawyer and civic booster in St. Louis who championed expanding the Arch grounds to the East Side. He died in 2004 at age 91. Photo by Cristina M. Fletes, cfletes@post-dispatch.com
185 West Trendley Avenue, East St. Louis This tiered Mississippi River overlook opened to the public in 2009 and offers a striking view of the St. Louis riverfront. Watch for the Gateway Geyser, the tallest water fountain in the country, which gushes up to 630 feet at noon, 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. from April through October.
Fog lifts from a row of trees along the east banks of the Mississippi River at sunrise on the Illinois side of the river as seen from the bluff in Bellerive Park in St. Louis on Monday, Sept. 29, 2014. Photo By David Carson, dcarson@post-dispatch.com
5570 South Broadway Enjoy sweeping views of the Mississippi River from benches or the overlook at the pavilion.
A Mississippi River overlook at Jefferson Barracks County Park (photo courtesy of St. Louis County Parks)
345 North Road Several overlooks at this former military barracks will give you views of the Mississippi River and visiting deer. Check out the view from the patio of the free Powder Magazine museum.
Saturday, June 2, 2007 - Mark Abels, of St. Louis, crosses the Chain of Rocks Bridge which is part of the new Route 66 bike trail, that spans from The Chain of Rocks Bridge to Chicago. Abels and his wife, Merri, started riding at 10:00 a.m. at The Chain of Rocks Bridge, stopped in Edwardsville, Ill., and then biked back to the bridge. The whole trip was about 30 miles. "It was a good ride," said Merri Abels in Edwardsville, "ask me that again on the way back." The entire route spans 438 miles. On Saturday there were about 500 riders biking the route. Karen Stockman | Post-Dispatch
Parallelling Interstate 270 along West Chain of Rocks Road between Riverview Drive in St. Louis and Illinois 3 in Madison County This historic bridge is open to bikes and pedestrians. Watch for the 30-degree bend in the middle of the bridge and for the castle-like pump station in the middle of the Mississippi River.
Joe Hansen, 78, of University City takes in the view near the top of the Weldon Spring Disposal Cell during a visit with his church group Monday in St. Charles County. "It almost brings a tear to my eye," Hansen says, who was a metal engineer at the Weldon Springs Site from 1958 to 1966. "We had a pretty good time here." The disposal cell, part of the Weldon Spring Site Interpretive Center, covers about 45 acres and provides isolation of chemically and radioactively contaminated waste material. 2005 PHOTO BY HUY RICHARD MACH/PD
7295 Highway 94 South, Weldon Spring Climb to the top of the 75-foot-high Weldon Spring Disposal Cell (yes, the government built this site atop old TNT, DNT and uranium ore processing facilities) and you can see panoramic views of St. Charles County and the Hamburg Prairie.
A press-box view of the Busch Stadium outfield on Monday. (Photo by Derrick Goold)
700 Clark Avenue If St. Louis has the best fans in baseball, we might have the best views, too. The view of downtown when you glance up from a Cardinals game cant be beat. Go to cardinals.com to see the view from your seat.
The Gateway Arch serves as a distant backdrop during the Stop the Violence 4 Peace Festival on Saturday, July 18, 2015 in the Old North neighborhood of St. Louis. The festival, in its first year, featured live music, crafts for kids, and booth from local vendors. Photo by Huy Mach, hmach@post-dispatch.com
14th Street between St. Louis Avenue and Warren Street If youre in this neighborhood just northwest of downtown, perhaps grabbing a chocolate-banana shake at Crown Candy Kitchen, you might have a moment where you look up and say, Oh, hey. Just to the south youll see a familiar friend, the Arch, rising above the Dome at Americas Center.
View of Busch Stadium old and new on Dec. 5, 2005, from the Eagleton Federal Courthouse building in St. Louis, Mo. POST-DISPATCH PHOTO BY CHRIS LEE
111 South 10th Street Tours are available of this 29-story building, but provided you go through security, the views of the city are vastly different whether you look out a west-facing window on the 10th floor or an east-facing window on the top floor.
A view of the newly completed Leonor K. Sullivan Boulevard from the Eads Bridge on Wednesday, June 1, 2016, at the St. Louis riverfront. Work on the Arch grounds continues. Photo by J.B. Forbes, jforbes@post-dispatch.com
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Time for yet another (groan) pandemic walk? Here's how to switch things up. - STLtoday.com
